Overview
- The ceremony unveiled brown signs on 78th Street between South Shore Drive and Coles Avenue on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026, formally designating the block as Dr. Donda West Way.
- Kanye West attended and joined Ald. Greg Mitchell to reveal the signage but did not make remarks at the event.
- Ald. Greg Mitchell sponsored the honorary designation after a City Council proposal introduced in May 2024 and Chicago State professor Garrard McClendon advanced the nomination.
- Speakers centered Dr. Donda West’s more than two decades at Chicago State University, her role as English department chair and founder of the Gwendolyn Brooks Center for Black Literature and Creative Writing, and noted she died in 2007 from coronary artery disease and post-operative complications.
- Local leaders, former students and Chicago hip-hop figures described the naming as a permanent neighborhood reminder of West’s mentorship and influence on artists and young people, and the signs sit near the West family’s South Shore home.